Generally, a high voltage battery and a low voltage battery are separately mounted in battery-based environmentally friendly vehicles such as a hybrid electric vehicle (HEV), a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV), an electric vehicle (EV), and the like.
Since the high voltage battery and the low voltage battery are separately mounted in a trunk, a low sheet, and the like, of the vehicle, they occupy a vehicle space, and a wire harness (W/H), or the like, becomes complicated, such that marketability, work efficiency, and the like, are decreased.
In addition, an intelligent battery sensor (IBS) for controlling the low voltage battery and a battery management system (BMS) for controlling the high voltage battery are separately provided, and decide temperatures, currents, states of charge (SOCs), and the like, of the high voltage battery and the low voltage battery, respectively. However, the IBS and the BMS are in charge of the same function, which is inefficient.
Meanwhile, the low voltage battery is mounted in an engine compartment or the trunk of the vehicle. Here, in the case in which the low voltage battery is mounted in the engine compartment, deterioration of the low voltage battery is accelerated by heat generated in an engine, such that a lifespan of the low voltage battery is decreased, and in the case in which the low voltage battery is mounted in the trunk, a space of the trunk is narrow, such that marketability of the vehicle is decreased.
In addition, generally, the low voltage battery is positioned at a lower portion of a sheet of the vehicle, a tire well of the trunk, or the like, such that the low voltage battery and a ground are connected to each other in a final process. The reason is that when assembling is performed in a process line in a state in which the low voltage battery is connected to the ground, stability is decreased due to generation of a short-circuit, such that the low voltage battery may be early discharged.
The information disclosed in this Background of the Invention section is only for enhancement of understanding of the general background of the invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art already known to a person skilled in the art.